The 1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the first All-Ireland Final and the culmination of the 1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. Limerick were the winners.[1] It was the first of two All-Ireland football titles for Limerick - the other coming in 1896.[2]
In 2005, a gold medal won by the final's man-of-the-match Malachi O'Brien fetched €26,500 (three times its guide price) at London auction house Sotheby's. It was believed to be the oldest All-Ireland football medal in existence. The Limerick Leader purchased the medal and said it intended to display it in Limerick.[3]
In June 2023 another medal, awarded to Limerick midfielder Jeremiah Kennedy, was sold at a Dublin auction for €32,000. The victorious Limerick team did not receive their medals until 1910.[4]
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The 21 per side final was held at O'Byrne's field at Beech Hill, Donnybrook, which was then the home of Dublin club Benburbs.[5][6]
Louth was represented by county champions Dundalk Young Irelands, with the Limerick side composed of members of Limerick Commercials, who had won the Limerick county championship.
Playing with the aid of the wind in the first half, Louth led by two points at the interval. Jim Keating was the first player to register a score in an All-Ireland football final. In the second half, the first ever goal in a final was scored by William Spain.[7] The Treaty men went on to win by four points. Gate receipts for the match came to £300.
